It has been known for sometime that explosive reactions may be initiated by an oxidizer supplying oxygen to hydrocarbon compounds, thus producing gases that will create shock waves. The oxygen balance is crucial to such reaction as one wants to ensure that all the carbon and hydrogen elements are oxidized respectively to carbon dioxide and water.
Explosive compositions containing C, H, N and O generally exhibit a maximum oxidation energy for slightly negative oxygen balance. From this standpoint blasting agent compositions of the ammonium nitrate/fuel oil (AN-OF) type have been and are widely used in commercial blasting operations. Fuel oil is commonly used in blasting agent compositions, although in some compositions, diesel fuel oil may be utilized. The explosive reaction is extremeley sensitive to water and its presence may deter or deaden the blast. In fact a major concern is to find an explosive composition with a long term storage ability, and with a good moisture resistance so as to prevent the decomposition of the oxidizing agent. While such results have been attained for some blasting agent compositions comprising fuel oil, this is not the case when diesel fuel oil is used.
Hence it is an object of the invention to provide a blasting agent composition that eliminates such problems encountered with diesel fuel, and one that is less expensive than a conventional blasting composition and that enables recycling of a used oil.